"Haa...man, I better hurry..." said a young man about 18 years old making his way to his apartment.
He was passing through an area where there were several stores, but since it was late already, they were all closed, which together with the unkempt look of the sidewalks, buildings and dim lights of the street lamps, it gave the street an appearance that made one feel cautious.
One could see by the way he was walking that this young man was in quite a hurry, and even though there wasn't much light in the street, one could still make out certain things about him.
He had brown hair and a light skin, he was wearing brown pants with a blue sweater as well as a backpack, even though the young man couldn't be described as handsome, he had a gentle face that combined with the glasses he was wearing made him look like a dedicated college student.
He had just left his job at a local store which was somewhat far from the neighborhood where he lived, the reason he was in such a hurry was because the neighborhood where he lived was in the infamous South Zone.
Luckily he was already halfway there, although he didn't relax a bit anyway, he knew very well that one couldn't be too cautious here, he had been robbed many times before after all.
However, there wasn't much he could do, most of the criminals in this area were supers, and while they weren't strong or anything, they could definitely beat him up.
The reason for that was, although he was an esper, his skill was not useful for anything except taking hits, so local criminals often liked to bother him to test the limits of his ability.
As for the police...they only came here once a week, and unfotunately, today wasn't the day that they did.
And about changing his route, sure, he could do it...but the other routes were only more dangerous, not less.
Therefore, his main goal was to get a good job and raise enough money to move out of this place, which was a goal he was slowly but surely achieving.
"I really...want to move out..." He said, stopping momentarily and looking at the darkened sky, that although one couldn't see many stars, it was still a beautiful sight.
This was one of the few good things that the South Zone had, there wasn't as much noise as in the other parts of the city, giving place to a quiet atmosphere.
Just then, as if to console this poor young man a little, a shooting star passed by.
"!"
The young man was surprised by this and quickly made a wish with all the honesty he had in his heart.
"Please, I want to move-UGH!"
*PAM*
However, he was interrupted by a kick in the back, which caused him to fall to the floor in pain, throwing away his backpack and glasses.
"Noah~!"
Then, the person who kicked him shouted the young man's name.
'...Damn it.' Thought Noah as he picked up his glasses, it was exactly because he wanted to avoid this kind of situation that he was rushing, unfortunately he had stopped to look at the sky, although he wasn't sure if that had caused him to be found or not.
"I see you were in a hurry, you were planning to go home without saying hello~?" said the person as he bent down to be at the same height as Noah.
The person in question was a man of about 21-22 years of age, he had long, green hair as well as sharp eyes, was thinly built, and looked a little sloppy in general.
"...What do you want...?" Said Noah, not wanting to make this longer.
"Come on, there's no need to be this cold, haven't we known each other for a while~?" Answered the man, but upon seeing that Noah didn't want to talk, he added, "Well, you know, I'm a little bit short on cash, and I was wondering if you could lend some to me~?"
'Haa, let's get this over with...'
Then, he reached into his pockets, pulling out his wallet before handing it to the man before him.
"Heh, thanks." He said with a grin on his face when he saw that Noah was taking out his wallet, then stretching out his hand towards it.
'...'
At that moment, Noah started thinking, he knew that there wasn't a lot of money in his wallet because every time he got his paycheck he immediately put most of it in his bank account, he wasn't an idiot to carry all that money around after all.
However...that money was his, it was the little he had to buy groceries and for his transportation!
He had worked very hard to earn that, he saved a lot on meals, he didn't indulge in any kind of luxury, and he even always preferred to walk before using any kind of transportation because that cost money too!
Then, he started remembering...
How much money had he given to the piece of sh*t before him...?
For how long...was this asshole going to take his money...?
Perhaps he worked to keep this good-for-nothing...?
If things went on like this...how longer would it be, until he finally could move out...?
Suddenly, rage filled Noah, normally, he was a very calm and easy going person...but after many months, he could not take it anymore.
Then, gripping his wallet harder than before, he said...
"No..."
"...what...?" Asked the guy with long hair, a little surprised, seeing that Noah's arm had stopped halfway.
"I said..." Noah added, slowly getting up.
The man on the other hand just stared at him, interested in what he was going to do...although his attitude seemed calm, the look in his eyes was starting to turn cold.
Finally, Noah finished standing and then looked directly at the man before shouting with determination.
"NO, YOU ASSHO-UGH!"
"Don't you f*cking shout at me." Said the man after kicking Noah again, interrupting him, it's true that he was interested in seeing what he would do, but not to the point where he would let Noah yell at him.
Although Noah had gathered his courage and had no intention of letting him take his money, the difference in strength was obvious.
Again in the ground, Noah was holding on to his stomach while coughing, it seems the man had used more strenght than the previous time.
"I don't know what kind of idea you had, and to be honest I don't give a sh*t what you think or say." Said the man, bending over again before lifting Noah by his hair and pushing him against the wall of one of the closed stores and making his eyes meet. "But, if I tell you to lend me money, you have to do it, alright?"
Noah looked at him, enduring the pain he was feeling right now while grabbing the man's arm, even though he knew that this man could definitely beat him up, he still glared at the man as if he was his worst enemy, his determination didn't waver.
Unfortunatle, determination alone wasn't enough to overpower this man, so Noah felt kinda helpless inside, he didn't want to give up, but...what else could he do right now...?
He wasn't able to beat the man, he wasn't able to protect what little money he had, and ultimately...he wasn't able to protect himself.
But even though that was the case, the anger inside of him didn't diminish one bit.
*SLAP*
"Change that stupid look." Said the man in a serious and somewhat jaded tone of voice after slapping Noah, causing his nose to bleed a little.
However, instead of calming down after the slap, Noah simply kept staring at the man...then, suddenly, he thought of a way to "retaliate".
*PTU*
And spitted on the face of the man.
*PAM*
"GAH!"
The man obviously didn't take it well, so he head-butted him, making Noah feel great pain and dizziness.
But even then, Noah didn't want to give in, helpless or not, dizzy or not, he wanted to at least make this piece of sh*t pay even a little.
So, gathering all the strenght on his body, he let go of his arm and tried to scrath the man's face.
"...You really don't learn..." Said the man, visibly annoyed, he then let go of Noah's hair to grab his neck, with enough force to restrain him, but not enough to choke him.
Then, he pulled something out of his jacket with his other hand... a knife.
"F*ck...you!" Noah replied by seeing what the man had in his hands, trying to escape the man's grip with all his strenght, however, the man's arm didn't even budge.
"Let's see if you still keep saying that after this..." He said with an annoyed expression on his face and a scary look before he started to cut Noah's face.
"AAAAAAARGHH!!"
No matter how much Noah fought, he could only stand there screaming in pain, madly scratching the man's arm in an attempt to break free from his grip.
He had started cutting from the cheeks and was slowly working his way up to his eye, giving Noah an indescribable pain.
"AAARGHH!!"
"TRY TO SPIT AGAIN, YOU PIECE OF SHI-!"
*CLAN!*
Suddenly, just as the knife was about to reach his eye, the sound of metal hiting against something solid was heard.
Then, Noah saw the man before him falling to the ground unconscious.
"Wow, we started out strong, hey, dude, are you oka...I guess not." Said a hooded man, who was also the responsible of the long-haired man falling to the ground.
"...who...?"
Noah had also fallen to the ground after the man stopped holding him, but after everything that had happened to him, he was feeling extremely bad, especially his head, everything was fuzzy and staying awake was starting to become really hard for him.
However, he gritted his teeth and looked up to see who was the person that had helped him.
Then he saw it, a man totally clad in black, with his face covered by bandages, the only visible part of his face were his green emerald eyes.
And then... his consciousness faded.